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Today’s 3-pointers

1. Bob Mulcahy might as well have taken a wrecking ball to the RAC, because Rutgers’ exiled athletic director left its primary tenants in a smoldering scrap heap. Whether you agreed or disagreed with giving Fred Hill a two-year extension after two 10-win seasons, the fact that the entire sum was guaranteed is “absolutely negligent,” to quote a high-ranking administrator at another school. Uncle Bob also spent like a drunken sailor on the latest contract for C. Vivian Stringer, an accomplished coach but one whose program hemorrhages money and is starting to show some cracks of its own as illustrated in this report from NJ.com. Tim Pernetti is going to need Houdini’s help to wiggle out of the financial straightjacket bequeathed by his predecessor.

2. Don’t believe the spin coming from Seton Hall’s administrators about Joe Quinlan. It’s true that the athletic director hasn’t been ordered to clean out his desk, but the writing is all over the wall and you don’t need Sherlock Holmes to connect the dots. Here’s when they’ll finally confirm reality: After the dust settles and everyone departs for the summer, a terse statement will be released at about 4:45 on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

3. There’s not much to say about Rutgers’ 23-point shellacking at Marquette except this: Each successive non-competitive loss does more long-term damage to the program. It makes it the job less attractive to coaching candidates, makes it less likely that key players will return next year, makes it harder to raise money to refurbish the RAC. If Rutgers goes 0-fer the Big East, the fallout in terms of negative recruiting and everything else could bury the program for five years, maybe more.

And he draws the foul: In light of Kentucky’s loss and Kansas’ upcoming challenge against rival K-State, Villanova stands a real chance of obtaining the No. 1 ranking next week. That would provide quite the opportunity for Seton Hall, which matches up pretty well with the Wildcats, to make the kind of splash that could reverberate until March. Stay tuned.

HIGH SCHOOL EDITION:

1. In case anybody needed reminding, the gap between New Jersey’s best parochial team and best public-school team is a mile wide. That’s the message from St. Pat’s 74-52 drubbing of Plainfield Tuesday night at Union H.S. Plainfield had the chips fall their way—Tyrone Johnson was a full go after recovering from his toe injury, the capacity crowd was nearly 100 percent behind the Cardinals, and Kyrie Irving sat out the first five minutes due to bruised ribs—yet still fell behind 23-4 and never got the deficit closer than 16. Read the game story here. The Cardinals looked unnerved in the first half. They’ll have to overcome that to have any shot if these clubs meet again in the Union County Tournament final.

Notes from the scene: There were plenty of luminaries on hand—former Seton Hall center Grant Billemeier is an assistant coach at St. Pat’s and must have shed 50 pounds from his playing days, Tom Konchalski dropped in and so did Seton Hall assistant Scott Adubato. But maybe the weirdest sight was seeing Jayson Williams—he of the ankle bracelet—entering the Plainfield locker room after the game and offering the Cards some words of encouragement. Apparently he has connections with Plainfield rec folks and they ushered him in.

Also have to tip the cap to PA announcer Rich Biddulph, who was calling out the assists (don’t hear that very often on the high school level) while donning a dapper corduroy blazer.

2. Hats off to Somerville, which knocked off Gill St. Bernard’s Tuesday and really upset the apple cart on the eve of the Somerset County Tourney’s seeding meeting. The Pioneers drove home the point: This is the most wide-open SCT in many years, maybe ever. And Joe D’Alessandro’s club reminds us of axiom No. 1 in basketball: If you play good defense, you always have a chance.

As for Gill, hiccups happen when you are sophomore-driven, but the Knights have to take a hit in the seedings. In other words, they can’t be No. 1 any longer. But where do they fit in? It should make for some fascinating banter at tonight’s meeting. We’re looking forward to it (and the pizza) and we’ll post the result as soon as it’s rendered.

3. So, then, here is Hoops Haven’s revised “ballot” for the SCT seeds, updated to reflect Tuesday’s results. I agonized over this for nearly 90 minutes—it’s the toughest ballot in my 13 years on the beat. There’s been quite a bit of movement from yesterday, which shows you how volatile this is:

1. Ridge (11-3): Took care of business with a 48-38 win over Warren Hills. Reward their consistency.

2. Hillsborough (12-2): Coming off a narrow 59-56 win over Watchung Hills, but they have beaten both Ridge and Montgomery.

3. Montgomery (13-2): Lock them in here. A 57-38 rout of Franklin was a statement.

4. Gill St. Bernard’s (9-2): Somerville loss is gonna cost them, and this could be generous. Some coaches are going to seed them as low as No. 6, and they have a case. In our view the body of work, which includes wins over Immaculata, Irvington and Union, keep them from sliding further.

5. Immaculata (9-5): With four losses (we won’t penalize them for playing St. Anthony) and Tuesday’s 47-41 squeaker over Bridgewater, it’s temping to drop them back behind Somerville and Rutgers Prep. Like those schools, they have one signature win (Hillsborough). Their second-best win (Piscataway), last week’s close loss to Montgomery and the program’s status as the defending champ could break the tie. It’s awfully close.

6. Somerville (11-2): The Pioneers can make a case for No. 4 after stunning Gill. We won’t quibble if they get it. But taking the whole body of work into account, their resume is not quite as strong as the schools ahead of them.

7. Rutgers Prep (10-4): After Somerville’s win over Gill, you can make a case for them to go as high as No. 4. They’ve played a tough schedule, but aside from Somerville they don’t have a hang-your-hat win. Tough call.

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14 thoughts on “Today’s 3-pointers”

A hypothetical question for you: looking at the remaining schedules, it is not unrealistic for SHU to finish tied for 5th in the Big East at 19-8 overall (10-6 in Big East). Do you think that has any bearing on an NCAA bid? It would be hard for me to imagine that 8 teams would make the tournament from the Big East but the team finishing 5th overall in conference does not make it, especially when the top 4 teams will most likely all be ranked in the top 15. A 5th place finish would also mean that SHU went 10-2 down the stretch in the toughest conference in the nation...

Pernetti needs to fire Fred Hill now. After another noncompetitive blowout loss to Marquette last night, the team and RAC fans need a change of scenery immediately. Hill cannot step onto the RAC court as head coach of this team again. I acknowledge that this RU team with no inside power game (sans Echenique) will be overmatched in almost every Big East game with or without Hill, but Pernetti needs to begin cleaning-out RU basketball today. Let the players take ownership of the rest of the season starting with N.D. on Saturday at the RAC.

Hey, don't forget that Fred Hill has a plan and vision! That is he plans on taking the remaining $1.8 million to the bank and then envisions himself working as a college basketball TV analyst. Fred Hill's pregame "keys to winning" after compiling a conference win loss record of 8-51 (and counting) will make for very compelling television.

Regarding Seton Hall, tomorrow's night game against South Florida is the scariest of the road trip, since it screams "Trap Game". Bobby Gonzalez better have his team prepared for that game before focusing on possible upsets.

I don't like to see Hill (or even Rutgers, for that matter) get yammied night in and night out. After all, he put in some good time and energy into establishing a solid recruiting class for us not too long ago. That said, the team imploded... but that's neither here nor there.

Jerry, I don't think I've seen / heard you comment about this Bobby Knight extravaganza that the kids are getting caught up in. Any truth to the rumor?

I can't imagine Rosario's family would want him to stay around to catch a Dragon Kick to the neck from Knight when he goes 3-14. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the comments. To respond:
Peter, there are 18 Big East games, so SHU needs to win more than 10 to get into the Dance.

Old School, your point makes perfect sense. To borrow a term from the message board, the RAC is becoming toxic.

Curmudgeon: Agreed. SHU has a lot more talent but South Florida is well coached, they do have a player who can beat you single-handedly and they are at home. The Nova game will lose a ton of sizzle if the Pirates fall in Tampa (which I don't think will happen).

Pirate Blue/Hall Ball: I have heard the Knight rumors too but as far as I know they are just rumors at this point. No one has been lined up, though some feelers may be out there. The only thing I've got a strong feeling about is that Pernetti would want to take a swing at some big names.

Please understand that I tread carefully around this situation because I cover the team and deal with the staff on a regular basis. That is not the case with Joe Quinlan, who would seem to prefer a trip to the dentists chair to dealing with the media. Hypothetically, if Gonzo's job was in jeopardy I would tread just as carefully because I have a working relationship with him and there's a lot of season left.

BootRu,
I'd boot N/D, Marquette, & DePaul ... they are not in the East and are too far away for truly eastern teams to get to and home in one day without undue pressure on the kids ... hell, they're not even in the same time zone !!!

I'd replace them with Boston College, Temple, & maybe Xavier ...

The A-10 can then acquire Rutgers & S/H ...

The MAC can take on St. John's ...

I'd create a Level #1 and Level #2 similar to the way they do it in European Futbol (soccer) ... the best teams compete in Level #1 and the rest go to Level #2, but the last place team each year in Level #1 goes down to Level #2 and the best Level #2 team goes up to Level #1 ...
Each team plays each other once, Level teams twice ...

I know it's complicated, but if the Big East wants to stay a top conference, they have to stop playing "cupcakes" in their own conference ... so keep the wheat and discard the chaff ...

Sure you and other SHU-flies were calling for Hill's head, especially when he was recruiting circles around Gonzo 2-3 yrs ago. Too bad for us that Hill really has been a disaster as a functioning head coach. I absolutely supported Hill when he landed a Top 20 recruiting class two years ago. Not being an insider, I had no clue how bad the inner-workings of his program management were. JR Inman and J-Griff were soft underachievers and easy targets to blame for the team's poor records then. Hill did not inherit a Big East-caliber team. The red flags did go up last year for me when Christian Morris—not a superstar but a big body that could develop into a solid supporting player and strengthen team depth--transferred in the blink of an eye. When Hill couldn’t keep a very talented recruit like Chandler in-line and in school, that was strike 2. Ecehenique’s transfer was strikes 1,2 &3---exponentially.

Anyway, the RU program has imploded and we'll have to work hard to turn it around, including facilities upgrades and a real head coach. Our new AD has an impressive track record of results. So while it will take time, in the long run I'm confident that RU hoops will be ok and in a better position than SHU after Gonzo's quick-hit troubled players transfer approach with poor graduation rates and/or brewing recruiting violations lead your program back down the drain. Cheers.

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About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.